and wrote 2009 on the daily schedule today! Whoopsy. Luckily, I have very observent students and they promptly alerted me of the error, some of them even before they took their seats! At least I am comforted to know they really are paying close attention to the schedule. I figure that I’ll be writing 2010 consistently come March or so. I always seem to take a while to make the transition.
Today we learned a little about New Years celebrations and the history of New Year’s Resolutions. The students read a selection about New Year’s celebrations going back to the Babylonian calendars which recognized New Year’s Day in what we now call March at the start of Spring. We read about how the calendar was changed over time by the Roman Emperors, until Julius Caesar shifted it the final time. We then read a short selection on Janus, a mythological character believed by the Romans to have 2 faces on opposite sides of his head. Partially in recognition of looking both forward and backward at this time in the year, and partially in honor of Janus as a symbol of gates and beginnings, people began to make resolutions in January. We will carry on this tradition ourselves, as we write our own essays on New Year’s Resolutions. We will begin the writing process tomorrow, and we will spend a little time delving into 5 paragraph expository essay formats as we write.
Today we began our new unit on fractions. We had some discussions about the parts of fractions, definitions of fractions, and real world applications of fractions. We then spent a little time modeling fractions with arrays. Tomorrow we will take a closer look at something called Unit Fractions, and the students will learn some strategies for utilizing Unit Fractions to solve a variety of types of mathematical problems. You can learn a little more about Unit Fractions and why they are so important for building number sense around fractions at this website.
Today marks our 1 week point until the big field trip to the Marin Headlands. Come this time next week, your children will be miles away, hiking, exploring, and having a great time! I passed out more copies of the equipment list, so please start gathering together any supplies that you need. Today I was able to get into the emergency container out back and pull out some of the boxes of donated gear from North Face. Wow! We have a ton of fleeces, and a handful of rain jackets, down jackets, hats, gloves, 2 sleeping bags, and 2 extra backpacks. We will send home a notice tomorrow asking if you need supplies, or if you have extra supplies you would like to loan out. I will be available most days this week after school, and will stick around for extended hours on Wednesday prior to the PTA meeting to loan out items. I’m hoping the weather will remain like it is today, but we will also want to be prepared.
Homework:
- Vocabulary: Complete Sort
- Mathematics: Study Link 5-1
- Reading: Read for 25 minutes and fill out predictions in Reading Log.
Mr Weis' Classroom Blog 